The Korea Herald

Axis lets expats tell their story

Expat LivingApr 10, 2012

Regular event for revealing true tales gets audiences laughing, cringingSometimes the key to telling a great story in a live setting is to abandon all regard for one’s sense of shame, or how recently the audience has eaten. Rich Scott-Ashe, who organizes the Axis storytellers event in Seoul, exemplified this lesson at the Berlin Caf & Lounge near Itaewon, launching into the tale of how his father, both a doctor and handyman, attempted to cure him of his bedwetting at age 11. Occasionally mortifi
Dental X-rays linked to brain tumors: U.S. study

HealthApr 10, 2012

People who get regular dental X-rays are more likely to suffer a common type of brain tumor, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday, suggesting that yearly exams may not be best for most patients.The study in the U.S. journal Cancer showed people diagnosed with meningioma who reported having a yearly bitewing exam were 1.4 times to 1.9 times as likely as a healthy control group to have developed such tu
Obesity in pregnancy linked to autism

HealthApr 10, 2012

Mothers who are obese or have diabetes during pregnancy may be more likely to have babies with autism or other developmental delays, said a US study published on Monday. MCTThe findings "appear to raise serious public health concerns," said the study in the journal Pediatrics, which comes amid an obesity epidemic in the United States with recent research showing autism strikes up to one in 88 chil
Queen Elizabeth grants Camilla new honor

PeopleApr 9, 2012

LONDON (AP) ― Queen Elizabeth II has appointed the Duchess of Cornwall to the highest female rank in the Royal Victorian Order, Buckingham Palace said Monday. The announcement that Camilla has been made a Dame Grand Cross comes on the day of her seventh wedding anniversary with Prince Charles, the queen’s son. Awards under the Royal Victorian Order, which was founded in 1896 by Queen Victoria, are given by the queen to people who have served her or the monarchy in a personal way. They are bestow
Chavez back in Cuba for more radiotherapy

PeopleApr 9, 2012

HAVANA (AFP) ― Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez returned to Cuba on Easter Sunday for a third round of radiation therapy to combat cancer after tearfully praying to God this week to let him live.President Raul Castro warmly received Chavez on his arrival here before dawn at Havana’s international airport, the state newspaper Juventud Rebelde said.The Venezuelan leader, who has twice undergone surgery in Cuba to remove cancerous tumors, flew to Havana after telling his cabinet he was leaving to “
Min’s remains return to his arboretum

PeopleApr 9, 2012

The remains of Min Pyong-gal, who established Korea’s first civilian arboretum in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, in the 1970s have been relocated to a site inside it based on his wishes.According to the Chollipo Arboretum Foundation, the remains of the nationalized Korean citizen were moved on Sunday to a location under a magnolia tree that he liked in what is now acclaimed worldwide as Asia’s largest arboretum.The relocation took place to mark the 10th anniversary of his death. After his de
‘Hunger Games’ again on list of challenged books

BooksApr 9, 2012

NEW YORK (AP) ― The more popular “The Hunger Games’’ trilogy becomes, the more reasons some parents and educators have found to question whether it belongs on library shelves.For the second year in a row, Suzanne Collins’ work was among the most “challenged’’ books, as reported Sunday by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. The association defines a challenge as “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be
Following poem, Israel bars entry to Guenter Grass

BooksApr 9, 2012

JERUSALEM (AP) ― Israel on Sunday declared Guenter Grass persona non grata, deepening a spat with the Nobel-winning author over a poem that deeply criticized the Jewish state and suggested it was as much a danger as Iran.The dispute with Grass, who only late in life admitted to a Nazi past, has drawn new attention to strains in Germany’s complicated relationship with the Jewish state ― and also focused unwelcome light on Israel’s own secretive nuclear program.In a poem called “What Must Be Said’
Austerity hits Italy’s crumbling cultural heritage

CultureApr 9, 2012

ROME (AFP) ― After slashing arts budgets and with its most famous monuments badly in need of repair, Italy’s government is increasingly looking to private investors to help it preserve a priceless cultural heritage.The biggest initiative so far, however, is faltering after billionaire Diego Della Valle said he might pull his 25 million euros ($33 million) to restore the Colosseum following union protests and investigations into the project.Fragments of the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater ― now
Ex-con wins national scholar prize

PeopleApr 9, 2012

Walter Fortson after prison went to Rutgers University using a program for ex-offenders -- and now has been selected as a 2012 Truman Scholar. (MCT)Fortson was arrested in May 2007 for possession of crack cocaine, marijuana and two handguns. A student at Temple University at the time with a 3.5 grade point average, Fortson turned to selling drugs to make money, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported."
Ovarian stem cells make human eggs in possible aid to fertility

HealthApr 9, 2012

Stem cells taken from human ovaries were used to produce early-stage eggs by scientists in Boston who may have created a new method to help infertile women.Females have a fixed number of eggs from birth that are depleted by the time of menopause. The finding, published today in the journal Nature Medicine, challenges the belief that their ovaries can’t make more. The research was led by Jonathan T
Kim named SUNY distinguished alumni

PeopleApr 8, 2012

Literature Translation Institute of Korea CEO Kim Seong-kon is to be a recipient of the State University of New York at Buffalo’s International Distinguished Alumni Award. Kim, who is also a professor of English at Seoul National University and a long-running columnist at The Korea Herald, is the first Korean to receive the award, the institute said. Kim received his Ph.D. in English from SUNY Buffalo in 1984. He joined the faculty of Seoul National University in the same year.He has been active
Doosan chairman to head theater foundation

PeopleApr 8, 2012

Doosan Group Chairman Park Yong-maan has been appointed chairman of the board at the Myeongdong Chongdong Theaters Foundation, the Culture Ministry said last week.The foundation oversees the operations of Myeongdong Theater and Chongdong Theater. Both theaters have historic significance: Myeongdong Theater occupies the former National Theater building in Myeongdong while Chongdong Theater opened in 1995 at a location where Korea’s first modern Western-style theater was built in 1908.Park’s long
Korea to support exports of children’s books

BooksApr 8, 2012

The Culture Ministry plans to push ahead with a policy to support the export of books for young readers to build momentum for a Korean wave in publishing, its minister said Friday.In a meeting with local publishers of children’s books, Minister Choe Kwang-shik asked the publishers to play a role as the main driver of hallyu in the publishing field and promised the government would seek positive ways to support the export of children’s books.According to the ministry, children’s books have the mo
KOCIS to draw foreign eyes to Korean culture

CultureApr 8, 2012

Director Woo stresses role of foreign media and opinion leaders in promoting KoreaIn the eyes of the foreign media, South Korea has been seen mainly as confronting the militant North Korea or an economic success story. It is time to divert their attention from the country’s complicated political issues to its amazing, yet relatively unknown culture, the new head of Korean Culture and Information Service said.“The new era will soon come with culture leading the country’s economy, not industries.